A Breath of Fresh Air
by TerraPrime
Summary: It was suppoused to be a normal walk in the park, a breath of fresh air. No one knew it would end with a new member of the Avengers. Lila has special abilities. She can heal, and bring back the dead, but at a price no one is willing to pay. Protective Hawkeye, Fatherly Bruce. Warning! The first chapter has a lot of blood.
1. Black Eyed Liars

Edited on: **3/15/13**

This came to me when I was listening to music in the car. I get ideas on the strangest of places. I know who's narrating the story at the beginning, but you don't. Clever people might get it, though.

**WARNINGS: Blood and death**

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A Breath of Fresh Air

Chapter 1

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**Unknown Narrator**

It was meant to be a simple, relaxing stroll in the park. Pepper had forced Bruce to get out of the lab and get some fresh air. It wasn't supposed to have ended up with a murder, at least that was Bruce's opinion on the matter. Although, with me, everything ends with a heart stopping, with tears, or even, on very rare occasions, joy.

I suppose it might have been fate's cruel idea of a joke, having him meet Lila and Akio. It could have been destiny, or maybe someone planned that Bruce would meet them. It certainly wasn't me, as I have no control over what happens to those whose hearts still beat.

Whatever force had brought him to that place at that moment was a mystery. All I know was how it ended for Akio, and how it began for Lila.

**Stark Tower, Bruce's P.O.V.**

"Bruce, you need some fresh air. Go to the park, walk around, anything, but sit in a lab all day." Pepper looked downright murderous when she had been informed by Jarvis that I hadn't eaten or slept in two days. I didn't dare go against her in this state.

"Alright." I said, feeling like sulking. That was what Tony always did, but I think it was rubbing off on me. I'm not one for showing outward emotion. It freaks too many people out.

"When you get back, you will eat a proper meal and get some sleep." Again I felt like doing something particularly Tony-like, maybe a sarcastic comment? That's it. I am spending _way_ too much time with Tony

I saved my files and put away the rest of my work, then headed out. I elected to walk to the park rather than take a cab. I needed to stretch my legs anyway.

I winced every time someone bumped into me, but no one stopped to try to pick a fight. I hated New York. I liked the Avengers Tower (Formerly Stark Tower), but I hated New York. It was loud and crowded; too many people who could get hurt.

It seemed to take forever to arrive at the park. I was incredibly relieved when I finally got in. There weren't many people here, as it was 11:00am on a Monday. The only other people I could see were a teenaged boy and a little girl, around 16 and 8 walking about 20 yards down the path. The girl stops and tells the boy something and he nods and points toward the bathrooms. He kneels down and whispers something to her, then pulls her into a tight hug. She looks confused for a second, but then wraps her arms around him too, smiling.

The boy hesitates for a second before letting go, I was close enough now to see the way, he lightly brushed her hair when he let go, standing up. He looked sad when she ran away, toward the restroom. Something was wrong with this picture, seriously wrong. I reached to boy, and then stopped.

"Is she your little sister?" I asked and the boy jumped and spun around, taking a defensive position. He said something in a language I had never heard (It sound suspiciously like a curse), then relaxed when he saw my face. 'That was odd. I wonder who he thought I was.' I thought and made a note not to sneak up on people, he might have hit me if he hadn't seen my face.

"Not by blood, but yeah, she is." He had an accent that I couldn't put my finger on. He was tall, around my height, with light blue eyes.

"So is she adopted?" He started to shake his head, but then froze and seemed to realize he was talking to a complete stranger.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Bruce Banner."

"Akio. Can you give this to her when she comes out?" He asked, and I noticed he was holding a package with a piece of paper attached.

"Can't you give it to her yourself?" I asked confused as I took the package from him. It wasn't very heavy, but he seemed less weighed down the minute it left his hands. He looked guilty at my question and then he turned and ran as fast as he could.

I was about to run after him when I felt someone tap my hand. It was the girl from earlier, the one I was supposed to give the package to.

"Have you seen my brother, Akio? He was here a minute ago." She asked, she looked terrified.

"He ran that way, he said to give this to you." I held out the package and she snatched from me, wasting no time to rip of the paper and read it. She looked confused.

"What?" She muttered to herself, "Why would I need to..." Mid-thought, her eyes widened in an expression of horror, "NO!" She screamed and ran in the direction I had pointed before, the box tucked under her arm. She was incredibly fast for someone her age. She disappeared in the trees and I did the only thing I could, I followed.

I heard her scream before I even saw her. It was a soul-shattering, piercing scream of pure anguish and I immediately knew that something horrible had happened to her brother.

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The first thing that I noticed was the blood. It was everywhere, on the ground, on Akio, on the little girl who was desperately trying to stop the bleeding. I ran and saw that she had already torn her shirt into strips and was pressing them on his wounds. There was one bullet wound in his leg and several holes were peppered on his shirt, which had been torn open.

She knew something about healing. I'm not sure if that should assure me or make me more worried. She had tears streaming down her cheeks, and even as she tried to help him, she was sobbing.

As I reached them I had already pulled out my phone and called 911. "911. It's an emergency, someone's been shot! I think they might be dead." As I said this I found my panic increasing and I tried to squash my emotions. The last thing the little girl needed was to meet the other guy. It was pretty hard not to be angry when she overheard what I had said and let out a whimper.

I relayed the facts I knew about the boy and the situation, they promised to send someone as quickly as they could, and told me to keep on the line. I knelt and started to help her apply pressure. Then I felt for a pulse and stopped. There was none, and his hands were cold. I stopped and she looked up. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? HELP ME! Please...please... just help him." She looked so broken in that moment, watching as her brother dies. Then her pleading expression was gone, a look of hope in her eyes.

"I can save him." She whispered and then pulled away the strips of bandages, exposing the bloody skin. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and then _something_ happened. The boy's body shook and suddenly he was gasping, trying to turn over, letting out cries of pain. I froze in shock as she opened her eyes. The deep brown was gone, they were pure black.

"Li, ss-st-op." The boy said shakily between gasps of pain, "It...won't.." He started to cough up blood. I unfroze and turned his head so he wouldn't choke. _He was dead, then she..._ I stopped my thoughts before I could get too distracted. I heard the sirens and saw the paramedics running toward us.

The girl's eyes were still pure black, but she was stroking her brother's hair and whispering words of comfort to him as he began to puke up more blood. When the paramedics reached us they tried to pull the girl away. She screamed and tried to pull away from them, desperately trying to return to her brother's side. As she did, the black faded back to brown. The minute her eyes returned to normal, her brother was still.

One of the paramedics got up, his expression was apologetic. The girl screamed and finally broke free of the man holding her back. She began to cry her brother's name over and over again. Her desperate cries so began shouts of anger. She started to shout that she hated him, how could he just leave her, he never even said goodbye.

The police showed up a few minutes later. There was no I.D. on his body; they knew nothing about this boy, but what a 7-year-old who had just seen her brother murdered. I had stayed with her, sitting on the park bench while she cried into my shirt. I, a complete stranger, was the little girl's pillow for the next hour.

A sympathetic police woman had help clean most of the blood off her face and hands, and then asked her a few questions. The only thing that we had been able to get out of her between her sobs was that her name was Lila and her 'brother's' name was Akio, and that they were homeless and had met on the streets a long time ago. I'm amazed that I didn't hulk out when she said that she was homeless. She was seven, for crying out loud!

The police had asked me questions and I told them what I knew, which wasn't very much. For some reason no one had paid attention to the package that the girl was still clutching in her hands. They were discussing putting her in foster care. I didn't want that to happen to her. I had heard enough foster care horror stories to know that a seven-year-old wouldn't make it. I glanced at Lila, she had cried herself to sleep and for the first time since I had found her, she seemed peaceful.

I suddenly remembered what she had done and I knew what to do. This girl had powers, so S.H.I.E.L.D. would be interested. I realized that the others might be worried about me. I had gone to central park, and then about an hour later there where police cars headed to central park. I picked up my phone and dialed Pepper's number.

"Bruce! Where have you been? Does this have anything to do with the police sirens earlier? Oh god, did you hurt anyone?" She sounded panicky. I sighed, the first thing she thought of when she heard sirens was me.

"I didn't 'Hulk-out'. A teenaged boy was shot." I said and I suddenly realized something. I hadn't heard any gunshots when he was shot. I needed to add that to the list of strange things. "I'm currently playing comfort pillow for his seven-year-old sister."

I heard Pepper gasp, "What?!"

"You need to call S.H.I.E.L.D.," I said calmly, "The boy was dead when I got there, then he wasn't." It sounded even crazier than in my head.

"What do you mean?" Pepper asked, sounding very confused, concerned, and unbelieving.

"I felt for a pulse, there wasn't one. Then his sister's eyes turned black and he woke up. Only for a minute though, when the paramedics tried to move her out of the way it broke her concentration or something." I said, feeling slightly crazy, "She brought him back to life, if only for a moment. I have no idea what else she can do."

"I'll call Fury, and send Natasha to collect you two. I'll set up a room for her. Tony might not be happy with a seven-year-old in his tower."

"I know." I said and hung up on Pepper.

Less than five minutes later, Natasha and a few other agents were there, taking control of the crime scene. Nat came over and we discussed the situation, and she said that S.H.I.E.L.D was still debating what to do with the girl, but we could keep her in the Avengers tower until then.

I picked up the sleeping child, she barely weighed anything and for the first time I noticed how skinny she really was. I could feel her bones through the thin fabric of her shirt. I caught a cab, not even bothering to explain to the driver why me and a little girl were covered in blood, just that I would pay extra if he could get us to Avengers Tower quickly.

We were there in two minutes, way faster than normal. Pepper was waiting when I walked in. She started to run over when she saw me and then stopped gasping. "What?" I asked.

"Your eyes..." She stuttered and I glanced at my reflection in the window. My eyes were tinged green; it actually didn't surprise me given the events of the past few hours.

"Its fine, the past few hours have been pretty stressful, it's a wonder that the 'other guy' didn't decide to have a little fun." I said and she walked over and took the sleeping girl out of my arms. The package that Lila had clutched tightly, even in her sleep, slipped from her arms. I reacted quickly and caught it before it could hit the ground.

"Where's her room?" I asked and Pepper led me to one of the many guest rooms. There was pair of clothes on the bed, but they seemed large for Lila. "I thought she would be bigger. She's so small." Pepper explained. She told me to leave so she could get Lila in bed. It was remarkable that she still hadn't woken up. I chalked it up to exhaustion, stress, and shock.

Now I have to think of what to say when she wakes up. "I saw you use your ability on your brother?" No. "I know you're special." No.

It was going to be a long night.

**Unknown Narrator...**

This is going to be _very_ interesting.

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Thank you. Why am I thanking you? Because if you made it all the way down you aren't horribly angry with my dark story. Please tell me what you think. Feel free to criticize my story. No flames please/


	2. Aftershocks

Chapter 2 is finally here! Sorry for the delay.

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A Breath of Fresh Air

Chapter 2

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**3rd P.O.V.**

Bruce was sitting awake, despite Pepper's encouragement to rest. He knew that Pepper was terrified of the way his eyes had changed colors. They were still tinged green, but not as much as before.

Jarvis had told him that Lila had woken about an hour ago and had locked her doors. He had listened to the audio carefully feeling his heart break into smaller pieces with each word the child spoke. It left him with more questions than answers.

_I'm sorry I said I hated you. I didn't mean it, I was just really mad at you for leaving...Please come back, I didn't mean it. I tried to save you, I really did. I didn't have anywhere to put it_.(It?)_ I was never angry when the_ others(Others?)_ left us, because I always had someone else to turn to. I got your gift...I love it, I'll take good care of it until you get back. Please don't go. This is worse than when_ _Milo_(Milo?)_ left. _

She just kept begging her brother to come back. Her voice kept breaking off into soft sobs. It was horrible to listen to and even worse to know he couldn't fix it. He was dreading going in the room, facing her. SHIELD wouldn't let it fly if we kept a new, possibly unstable, superpowered person in the Avengers Tower without knowing what her powers were exactly.

He finally got up the nerve to ask Jarvis to open the door. Sure enough, the door was unlocked in seconds. It was a bit freaky to know that Tony could unlock any door in the tower. He walked in and the girl had already taken a defensive position. She relaxed a little when she saw it was him. She was wearing a robe/cloak now. It was black and looked very much like the cloak worn by the Grim Reaper, except for the silver lining that went around the end of the sleeves and hood, and around her waist. It hid her face and eyes well, the only thing he could see was her amber irises.

He scanned the room until his eyes landed on the box, which had been torn open and was laying on the bed, empty. He assumed the cloak was the gift she had talked about.

"Where am I?" She asked and leveled a piercing glare at Bruce. That glare seemed at home on her young face. "You're in the Avengers Tower. I'm-"

"Bruce Banner, AKA The Incredible Hulk, you were exposed the both an imperfect version of the super soldier serum and a high dose of Gamma. It's your fault." She said the last part coolly, as if stating an absolute fact.

"What's my fault?" He asked, keeping his voice level. He was shocked that she knew about him, not many knew that he was the 'other guy'.

"Everything. That they're all gone, that I'm here in the first place." She was glaring coldly at him and her hands had curled into fists. This was nothing that he'd been expecting. He had expected the same crying child that had held onto him like a lifeline the other day, but this girl looked like she could easily stare down the Hu- the Other Guy.

"How is this my fault?! Who is 'they'?" Bruce asked, he felt a slight anger at the accusation, but he knew it was one of the stages of grief; depression, denial, and anger. She was angry and was looking for someone to blame it on. He could only hope that she wasn't going to try to attack him because if she did, she was as good as dead.

"Akio, Milo, Fran, Kay, Claire, Bethany, Tyler, Brandon. They're all gone now and it's your fault. All because of the stupid monster..." She muttered the last words, but he caught them and froze. The 'stupid monster'? He quickly put two and two together. One) Homeless girl with strange powers has her 'brother' shot down in the park, moments after he gives a stranger a gift for her. Two) Girl knows all about the Other Guy and accuses him of being the cause of her brother and many other's deaths.

Conclusion: Someone had tried to replicate the Hul...Other Guy and turned to children for test subjects, they then escaped or were released and are now being hunted and killed. Bruce felt sick at the all-too-possible conclusion he had reached and felt the Other Guy stir as rage built in his chest.

"Who killed them?" He asked quietly bending down next to her and met her eyes, Lila's hazel eyes burning into his and a look of pure disgust formed on her face. Her next word was spat like a curse and it chilled his blood.

"Hydra."

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Yep, this is a really short chapter. I know it is. I wanted to leave it off on that cliffhanger, but I couldn't find anything to fill the gap that wouldn't be completely unnecessary or pointless.

Oh yeah, and I have decided to add more dead characters. Their names were listed above and as you might have guessed, they were other failed Hydra experiments.

Review please, any flames will be used to build a cheery campfire.


End file.
